Learning Remotely

Welcome to Term 2.

As you were advised last week, our schools will have two days at the beginning of Term 2 (Monday 27 and Tuesday 28 April) to plan for the gradual return of students in Week 3. Of course, supervision will be provided at school for students who need to attend school on these days. Learning and teaching will resume on Wednesday 29 April.

In the first two weeks of Term 2, learning will be delivered to students in the same way it was provided in the last weeks of Term 1. Parents are encouraged to keep their children at home if they are able to do so for the first two weeks of school and continue to engage in learning from home. Schools remain open and parents and carers who need to send their children to school can still do so; however, the State Government’s directive to parents to keep their children home, if practical, still applies.

We will continue to communicate via Compass, the school website and school Facebook. All teachers will continue to be contactable via email during normal working hours from Wednesday 29 April.

I would like to assure all our families that the teachers at Our Lady Queen of Peace are here to support your child with their learning. We will continue to use a combination of Google Classroom and Zoom meetings to deliver learning programs. As was the case last term each week’s learning will be posted each Monday.

The school has purchased subscriptions to PM e readers and Reading Eggs for all children in Kindy and Year 1 and at point of need for other students in Years 2- 6. These online reading and phonics resources will be monitored and regulary updated by your child's class teacher. Information regarding these resources has been sent to families through compass. Please collect your child's indiviual usernames and passwords from the office as soon as possible.

Parents and carers, we appreciate your efforts to support your child to learn at home. We have developed this online Parent Remote Learning Portal resource specifically to support parents to monitor your child's learning throughout the day. This is an evolving resource that will give support in the areas of learning at home, technology, cyber safety and well being.

Parents please continue to be vigilant with your children’s online Google Classroom use. Online learning needs to be monitored by an adult as would be the case if your child were at school. I refer you to our Responsible Use of Technology Agreement. A poster form of this can be found on the Wellbeing and Cyber Safety Page.

From the beginning of Week 3 (Monday 11 May), there will be a gradual return to school for students, each child being able to attend school for one day per week. At this stage it is anticipated that this will be the case in Week 4 as well. This will then be reviewed with attendance further increased in Weeks 5 and 6 with the hope that full student attendance might be possible by the beginning of Term 3. Of course, this objective is subject to health advice and government policy. During this transition period students will continue to engage with the one learning program whether the children are at home or at school.

The school population has been divided into even groups ensuring that, as we organise the gradual return to school, family groups will attend on the same day via House Colours. Please contact the school office if you are unsure of your child's house colour. Attendance days are as follows:

• Chisholm (Red) - Monday

• Macquarie (Gold) - Tuesday

• Lawson (Blue) - Wednesday

• Wentworth (Green) - Thursday

The safety and wellbeing of our communities are our key priorities and our solutions will continue to evolve around them. These are some of the solutions in place as students gradually return to school:

• Our Lady Queen of Peace is regularly and professionally cleaned. With additional cleaning of touch points throughout the school.

• Continue to implement appropriate social distancing. Encourage good hygiene practices including sanitising and washing hands frequently.

• If a child is unwell at school parents will be contacted to collect their child.

• Parents please ensure that you do not send your child to school if they are unwell. If your child is even slightly unwell with a sore throat, cold, cough, upset stomach or temperature they need to be kept at home until they are 100% well and symptom free.

All students are able to engage in learning tasks each school day. These tasks will be provided by the teachers. Students can complete work in the provided workbooks or complete work online as instructed by the teachers.

Kinder - Year 2 families have also been provided with additional offline learning packs for students to work through as needed.

The Tech Support Page explains how students can access their Google Classroom from home. Work will be placed on Google Classroom for students to access. Parent access to Google Classroom is not necessary. Kindergarten - Year 2 children will need assistance either from an adult or older sibling to log in. Please be vigilant with your children’s online Google Classroom use. This is for online learning only and not for communication between students.

All teachers will be contactable via the school email address. Teachers have also shared their work email addresses via Google Classroom. Please ensure corresspondance is sent during normal working hours.

Students will be initially given an amount of reading material that will support them with continuing this important practice at home. From Term 2, all children in Kindergarten and Year 1, as well as specific students in Year 2 - Year 6, will have subsrciption access to PM readers online and Reading Eggs. Please see the Parents Page for how to log in to the PMe Page and Reading Eggs.

Can I reassure parents that staff have been working tirelessly to ensure that our children will be able to access a wide range of learning activities both on and off line to keep them busy if you choose to keep them at home.

We look forward to continuing our partnership in education and faith with all our students and families of the Our Lady Queen of Peace community.

If there is anything I can do for any family don’t hesitate to contact me directly. My prayers are with you.

Thank you for your ongoing support and we look forward to continuing our partnership in education and faith with all our students and families.

God Bless

Michael Hopley

Principal